Whirring Contraption
}} Obtaining Whirring Contraptions There are three repeatable methods of obtaining Whirring Contraptions: * Cashing in Dramatic Tension via the Doing Business in Wilmot's End carousel * Commissioning a Whirring Contraption in the Bazaar Side-streets * Sponsoring a trading voyage to the farthest reaches of the zee (Requires 20 or more Renown: The Docks). In short, Wilmot's End is more efficient at lower Echoes per action, and the alternative methods are better at higher EPA values, but each have their caveats. The simple method: Wilmot's End The Wilmot's End carousel is the simplest way to obtain Whirring Contraptions. The only requirement is access to the location itself, as well as high enough Watchful and/or Persuasive to consistently pass the skill challenges (162 for 80%, 200 for 100%). However, even at a 100% success rate, it takes a total of 44 actions to raise Dramatic Tension to 2 and subsequently cash it in for a single Contraption. The required Tension can be occasionally boosted in the Nadir via the Woods in winter opportunity card, but this is not reliable for long-term grinding. The tricky method: Upconverting Lamplighter Wax and turning the materials in Commissioning a Whirring Contraption takes 300 Phosphorescent Scarabs and 60 Memories of Light and returns 1 Contraption. Using the bulk conversion rates of the Scarabs and Lumps of Lamplighter Beeswax (1000 Lumps to 105 Scarabs, and 500 Scarabs for 105 Memories), each Contraption has a rounded value of 5578.2313 Lumps. For each contraption, it takes 3.2925 actions to convert the Wax into Memories of Light, 2.8571 actions to convert the Wax into scarabs, and a further action for the storylet itself: this is a total of 7.1496 actions per Contraption, plus the actions required to gather the Wax itself. The easiest method to obtain the Wax is to simply buy it from the Bazaar. Assuming the player may comfortably complete the Arbor grind (3.1 EPA, requiring Watchful 157), it will take 35.99 actions to grind enough Echoes to purchase the necessary Wax directly. This EPA rate makes the upconversion route be a single action more efficient than the Wilmot's End carousel, though with the side-effect of forcing the player to step away from London while grinding echoes. London-based grinds would take significantly more actions; it would take a total of 56 actions of the Tomb of the Silken Thread grind (2.27 EPA, requiring Watchful 267) to obtain the requisite Echoes and upconvert the Wax. Wax may also be gained directly through the Light a candle, and wait storylet (accessed from following a chandler to her workshop in The Department of Menace Eradication). If the player has a Dangerous of 313 (equipment bonuses, a Mood, and Overcapping can give a maximum Dangerous of 314), this method is faster than using the Arbor grind to buy Wax directly. A Dangerous of 197 is sufficient to outpace players using the Tomb of the Silken Thread grind. While purchasing Scarabs directly might seem like an appealing option to avoid the conversion overhead, their higher price means the saved actions are lost in obtaining the extra Echoes required. It is also worth noting that this method requires very high quantities of conversions to be maximally efficient, as the upconversion amounts are not easily divisible by the cost of the Contraptions, and thus could result in leftover or unused resources. There is also a downside to this method: upconverting Luminous items increases the Advancing the Liberation of Night quality by +1 CP for each conversion. While this does not have a negative gameplay impact per se, some players may not wish to increase it for RP reasons. The alternative method: Sponsoring expeditions For players with 20+ Renown: The Docks and a distaste for radical revolutionary philosophies, Sponsoring a trading voyage to the farthest reaches of the zee is an option. The storylet takes five actions, 2000 Drops of Prisoner's Honey and 10E, and returns a Whirring Contraption on a success, or 450 Phosphorescent Scarabs on an alternate success. It is believed that there's a 50% chance of either outcome, but this has not yet been confirmed. If the Contraption is directly obtained, the action efficiency of this method depends on a player's Echoes per action. The total cost of the venture is 90E if buying materials directly from the Bazaar, so a player must attain 2.3077 Echoes per action to break even with the Wilmot's End carousel. Obtaining honey directly is generally not an option, as even the most efficient repeatable method, Doing the decent thing in Unfinished Business in Veilgarden, only comes out to an effective 2EPA. In case of not getting a Contraption, the Scarabs can be turned into one via the aforementioned Commissioning storylet. The required Memories of Light can be obtained from side-converting T3 items. Notably, Tales of Terror can be repeatedly obtained by Stealing Tales of Terror from a noted author in The Flit. The action efficiency of this method depends on how a player obtains Casing. Setting your gang of hoodlums to business gives 3.6 CP of Casing per action, and Purchasing some assistance with Casing, if available, gives 9CP of Casing per action at the cost of 2.4E. The 60 required Tales of Terror cost 76.8 CP of Casing each, and cost a further 2.4 actions to convert. At 2.4EPA, grinding the Tales of Terror via purchasing assistance adds a bit over 20 extra actions. However, two alternative successes provide enough scarabs for three Contraptions, so each failure effectively adds ~13.5 actions to the grind.Category:Commonplace